Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Hand to Mouth: Living in Bootstrap America
    Unavailable
    Hand to Mouth: Living in Bootstrap America
    Unavailable
    Hand to Mouth: Living in Bootstrap America
    Audiobook4 hours

    Hand to Mouth: Living in Bootstrap America

    Written by Linda Tirado

    Narrated by Linda Tirado

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    From the author of the eye-opening and controversial essay on poverty that was read by millions comes the real-life Nickel and Dimed, and Linda Tirado explains what it's like to be working poor in America, and why poor people make the decisions they do.

    We in America have certain ideas of what it means to be poor. Linda Tirado, in her signature brutally honest yet personable voice, takes all of these preconceived notions and smashes them to bits. She articulates not only what it is to be working poor in America (yes, you can be poor and live in a house and have a job, even two), but what poverty is truly like-on all levels.

    In her thought-provoking voice, Tirado discusses how she went from lower-middle class, to sometimes middle class, to poor and everything in between, and in doing so reveals why "poor people don't always behave the way middle-class America thinks they should."

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateOct 2, 2014
    ISBN9780698180130
    Unavailable
    Hand to Mouth: Living in Bootstrap America
    Author

    Linda Tirado

    Linda Tirado is a completely average American with two kids and, until recently, two jobs. Her essay “Why I Make Terrible Decisions, or, Poverty Thoughts,” was picked up by The Huffington Post, The Nation, and countless other publications, and was read by more than six million people. Hand to Mouth is her first book.

    Related to Hand to Mouth

    Related audiobooks

    Poverty & Homelessness For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    Reviews for Hand to Mouth

    4/5

    91 ratings15 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      Linda Tirado has some words for middle class and wealthy people who look down on her for having been poor.None of them are printable in a polite book review.Raw and anguished, this is a tell-all memoir by an intelligent woman who dropped out of college and lived for years on four hours' sleep working two low-paying jobs, with no dental care and almost no medical care. She explains: obesity/poor diets, smoking, why she dared to have children, bad teeth, disability, rent-to-own, payday loan, refusing to use any bank outside of a Walmart, depression, housing dilemmas, child care worries, lack of dependable transportation, and being just plain trapped. She has answers and explanations for all of this. People who are determined to blame the poor for their own fate will not buy any of them, of course. But that doesn't mean the answers and explanations are not very good ones.
    • 4/5
      A first person account of what it is like to be poor in America and why poor people make bad decisions. As bad as the poverty itself is being treated as if having no money is a crime. (It could be argued that having too much money is a crime).
    • 3/5
      Let's not "bury the lead." Tirado's message is a critically important one — especially in this era. People in every income strata would benefit from the author's pointed insights. But I have two fundamental problems with "Hand to Mouth." The first involves content. The second involves literary tone. Let's start with content. This enlightening and often entertaining book was born after the author posted an essay on a web forum that answered someone's question about why many impoverished people make "self-destructive" decisions. Her pithy post went viral. Publications picked it up. She ultimately decided to turn it into a book. Here's the problem: There's just not quite enough content to justify a book-length manuscript -- even a slim volume. A three-part series of 2,500-word essays? Absolutely. Perhaps even a four-parter? Maybe. But there's a lot of redundancy here — slightly different anecdotes or insights served up to illustrate the same points that were adequately hit in earlier sections (why low-income people smoke, why they can't save, etc.) The second issue is literary tone. I had the distinct feeling throughout the book that there was an undercurrent of hosility and bitterness. I get it. Although I was born in a lower-middle class environment, I'm now grateful to be a financially-stable middle class guy. I've never had to live hand-to-mouth. Still, many of us who are at decent income tiers aren't entitled, nasty, greedy, ungrateful oafs who look down on others. We're good tippers. We try to "connect" with folks in the service sector. We enthusiastically support safety nets. Maybe it's just me, but I sensed a persistent thread of hostility. Tirado admits that she's angry a lot of the time. I give her credit for honesty. But the underlying hostility didn't underscore the message for me. It undermined it. When it comes to writing, Tirado is a skilled storyteller. I just wish she hadn't decided to make the F-word a frequent visitor in the manuscript. Believe me, I'm no prude. I even occasionally use the word. But I think the repeated use diminishes the message. True, the author explained early on that this is how she talks. I'm sure it was included to heighten authenticity. But I stopped counting after the tenth F-bomb. She even ended the tome by thanking many people and then adding: "Four of you can go F*!# yourself." Really? Having said all this, I'm glad I read the book. It's a vivid reminder of the inequities that exist.
    • 4/5
      I was really enjoying this book when I decided to read some Goodreads readers' reviews of Hand to Mouth. After my journey down the reviews rabbit hole, I found myself just as angry as Ms. Tirado. For fuck's sake, now none of us are the "correct" kind of poor to suit the Secure. Reading the reviews, I recognized some of the Blessed I sat next to in university espousing strong opinions about public policy without considering the consequences of the policy because they have been pretty much handed fucking everything their entire fucking lives. I also recognized some of the Sanctimonious who may have struggled in the past but decided all poor would make it beyond the struggle if they would only do what they did. (For me, I got tired of hearing the preaching of these Sanctimonious and subsequently chose spend my time in other company). If you have never struggled, quit being a judgmental asshole (a judgment I feel I have the right and the privilege to make). If you made it out of the struggle, quit being a judgmental asshole (a judgment I feel I have the right and the privilege to make). Here's the thing about Tirado's 195-page polemic: it is her experience and, therefore, requires not one bit of your blessed and sanctimonious permission to relate her experience and express her opinions. Period. Tirado's account of her experience is autoethnography. Perhaps you were absent or asleep the day they discussed the genre in Anthropology 101, Humanities 101, History 101, or Sociology 101 when you were attending your freshman year of college. (I know how inconvenient it is to give your attention to learning amongst all the frat parties and football games.) To remind you:
      Autoethnography is a form of qualitative research in which an author uses self-reflection and writing to explore their personal experience and connect this autobiographical story to wider cultural, political, and social meanings and understandings.
      If you wish to present your argument to me substantiating your review dismissing the value of Tirado's autoethnographic style, please set up an appointment. I am Christina E. Mitchell, Ph.D., a researcher grounded in the social sciences, published scholar, certified nonprofit professional, volunteer for a women's domestic violence shelter, and former single, teenage parent on welfare and food stamps.

      As for the book, I can not relate to all of what Tirado says, but I can relate to a lot of it. I left the hospital with my new baby daughter under the suspicious, watchful, judgmental eye of a nurse. I encountered a nasty checkout clerk at Safeway when I dared patronize their upper-class store using food stamps to buy milk on my way home from work instead of driving the three extra miles to the grocery warehouse accepting of my kind of poor, white trash. I have worked for bathroom-regulating fast food and retail, which caused back problems that leaves my left foot chronically semi-numb. I've lived in Section 8 housing. I can still relate to Tirado because after acquiring $279,000 in student loan debt by listening to the Blessed and the Sanctimonious rattle on that an education is the ticket out of the struggle and into security, I am post-dissertation, graduated, unemployed, and living with my children. I have not seen a dentist or a medical doctor in I cannot tell you how long. (For a full run down of how fucking mad I am about this, you can read my polemic here.) The fact is the Blessed and the Sanctimonious and the Secure do not want any redneck trailer trash, or any other of the Struggling, messing up their clean, white, pleasant little worlds. If the Struggling try to cross the boundaries, they are immediately told, once again, to mind their places, which is exactly what I hear in the Goodreads reviews of Tirado's book. (Forgive us silly, silly, insignificant Peasants for daring to speak out loud.)

      I'm sure if one looks hard enough in order to discredit me as several tried to discredit Tirado, one will find that, like Tirado, I was also the benefit of familial generosity during my struggle, which gratefully eased the pain a bit. I once rented a single-wide trailer owned by my parents, and my mom once bought me a washer and dryer. I was tremendously grateful for both gifts. I finally got off of welfare by going to community college to acquire secretarial skills. My daughter and I continued to struggle because of low wages, but my secretarial skills kept us housed (I even bought a USDA Section 8 home at one point), bought me a used 2001 Nissan Sentra (that I still drive), kept gas in the car, kept food on the table, and provided health insurance. I was tremendously grateful for the work. I was also tremendously grateful for the extra money I earned cleaning houses, bartending, and working for a caterer that gave us a few really fun vacations. (And, I offer a grateful Hallelujah! for the wine and beer I had to drink after my daughter went to bed.) But, being grateful does not mean I, or any of the Struggling, should have to put up with fucking Blessed, Sanctimonious, Secure assholes...which we must on a regular basis...seemingly until we die. Do the Struggling a favor, dear Blessed, Sanctimonious, and Secure, and put yourselves in the shoes of the Struggling for a minute and try to understand the lens through which you are seeing things. It is called reflexive practice. In research, this is the way researchers fight bias in their analysis. Not being honest about what one brings to the conversation - all of one's privileges, biases, discriminations, lived experiences, identities, etc. - means the opinion of the one brings nothing in substantive argument to discredit Tirado's sound advocacy through her own experience.

      _____________________________
      I wrote the above review in September 2016. It is now November 2016. Trump won the U.S. Presidential Election: a horrifyingly dystopian outcome that puzzles nearly everyone. We know white men overwhelmingly voted for Trump. We know many more than expected women, particularly white, educated women, voted for Trump. We know the upper middle-class to rich voted for Trump. We know many in the media are wondering why the white working class came out to vote when they hardly ever bothered to vote before.

      I can read much into the election results, as are others (my social media accounts explode with my and others' opinions and diatribes), but I think what I read most is the same that I attempted to reflect in my review of Tirado's book: Blessed, Secure, Sanctimonious...and now add the Struggling... white people (mostly men) do not want "trash" infiltrating their beautifully white, pristine, privileged lives. The vote was to keep out people of color and the morally questionable (from a Sanctimonious, narrow-minded, seemingly though questionably faith-based point of view) from having even a small working-class portion of what has been drastically reduced amongst the Struggling in terms of living wages and economically secure opportunities, while the Blessed and Secure do not want any attempt at egalitarianism. So, the white working class (men) and the white uber rich (men) partnered up to bring the carnage we have today. And, where does that leave the rest of us? The working class people of color, the LGBTQ community, the immigrants, the refugees, the women, the poor...the marginalized "trash"? It leaves us more marginalized. With the election, we were told on no uncertain terms to mind our places. Well, fuck you! You did nothing in this election to help your narrow-minded, bigoted, misogynist cause. Rather, you exposed it, and we will fight it. What breaks my heart is the Sanctimonious, Struggling white working class had so much more power if partnered with us other "trash" leaving behind psuedo-polite, Blessed and Secure society (particularly since Trump IS "the establishment" fooling y'all so he can grab more for himself, his family, and his rich friends). What breaks my heart worse is those who should know better, the educated, refused to come down from their Ivory Tower to welcome the Struggling working class and "trash" of society into the hallowed halls in order to listen and give credence to their voices.

      Heaven forgive us for what we have done.
    • 5/5
      Although it is already dated by the Draconian budget cuts made since 2017, this is still the best book I know that described what working poor people's lives are like. I haven't been poor for some time, but I haven't forgotten the desperate work schedules, the beat up car that is a necessity one prays will not die on the way to or from work and the tough decisions about what to spend my limited resources on. And I was a single male at the time, not a married mother of two. If you think poor people are responsible for their own problems, read this book and then read a more dispassionate economic treatise on why poverty affects so many Americans. And, as Tirado might have written, "and I'm a youngish white woman." Then imagine the predicament of a young black male.
    • 5/5
      The fact that we're in the midst of an election as I was listening to Tirado read her book----what an impossible situation for so many people in this country. One step forward, two or three steps behind, constantly. Everyone needs to read/listen to this author. Although her story is her very own, there are millions with her, all wondering why on this earth no one is seeing them and DOING something NOW. Truly an overwhelming and discouraging way to live when you can see so much that is unfair.
    • 5/5
      A poignant look at poverty in the US. Tirado, who has endured financial difficulties uses humor and first person insight to demonstrate the plight of the poor and to explain the difficulties of escaping poverty. She quickly recognizes that not all of her decisions make sense to the more affluent but shows how these choices are part of her socioeconomic condition.
    • 4/5
      Linda Tirado has some words for middle class and wealthy people who look down on her for having been poor.None of them are printable in a polite book review.Raw and anguished, this is a tell-all memoir by an intelligent woman who dropped out of college and lived for years on four hours' sleep working two low-paying jobs, with no dental care and almost no medical care. She explains: obesity/poor diets, smoking, why she dared to have children, bad teeth, disability, rent-to-own, payday loan, refusing to use any bank outside of a Walmart, depression, housing dilemmas, child care worries, lack of dependable transportation, and being just plain trapped. She has answers and explanations for all of this. People who are determined to blame the poor for their own fate will not buy any of them, of course. But that doesn't mean the answers and explanations are not very good ones.
    • 4/5
      So much material and real life experience she connected with that I can identify with.
    • 4/5
      This is a no holds barred account of one woman's life and viewpoints of living in poverty. She makes sure the reader understands that she, in no way, speaks for people who are poor as a whole, but this is how she personally sees it and what she has personally gone through. She is blunt. She is honest. Her voice is strong and there is no doubt what her point of view is. Some will most likely find it an uncomfortable read, others will feel unsettled by the language used or the no-nonsense attitude that Tirado takes in this book. It is raw, honest, and thought provoking.It is something that most of America needs to read. Needs to use to help banish stereotypes and prejudices that they feed into whether on a conscious or unconscious level. Heck, it even points out the gross working conditions that many minimum wage workers are expected to work in and shows just how condescending some people can be. It encourages people to treat others just as they'd want to be treated; to treat others as human beings, as equals, as humans.A few striking sentences from the book are:"In short, calling me a meth user because I have bad teeth is about as valid as calling me a genius because I'm a fast reader. (Tirado, 35)" and"And next time you feel as though you're shouldering more than your fair share of society's burdens, ask yourself: How badly do I have to pee right now, and do I need permission? (Tirado, 191)"She is not saying that "rich people" don't have problems or don't hit hardships. No, she points out that because they have money that have the capability to take more things for granted. The ability to fix those problems better or quicker than "poor people" can. It's an easy read and definitely a book that people should give a chance.(*Note I was given a free copy in exchange for an honest review through Goodreads Early Readers Giveaways.)
    • 1/5
      A disorganized, incoherent, poorly written screed - her initial essay (itself similar to a Cracked article written by John Cheese) was worth reading and gave some insight into the mindset that a person might adopt when living under the stresses of precarity - but this book adds almost nothing to that original forum post. Chapter after chapter of attacks on straw-men with aimless anecdotes, unsupported arguments, humorless jokes, and free-associating jeremiads...one could learn more about the working poor in America from an episode of Roseanne.

      It's too bad the discussion of this book seems to be exclusively about the reputation/veracity of its author, as the issues raised are themselves important - but whether or not Tirado invited such scrutiny, she is simply not a compelling (or perhaps even credible) voice for the underclass, and this book does little to inspire empathy for or conversations with those living in poverty.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 4/5
      This is a short, punchy book that expands on Tirado’s viral explanation for why poor people make poor choices. Short answers: they’re poor, so making “good” choices is unlikely to help a lot; they’re exhausted after punishing schedules and being expected to perform emotional and physical labor for employers who don’t respect them; there often isn’t much “choice” about it in the short or medium term, as when she can’t afford to have her teeth fixed, so she can’t get jobs that require public contact/performing a middle-class identity. Man, we are fucked up.
    • 3/5
      Although you would not guess it from her picture on the book jacket of Hand to Mouth, Linda Tirado is one angry young woman. She herself admits to being angry much of every single day of her life. What makes her angry, you wonder? It’s this: being poor and having to put up with a way of life she sees no end to despite what she considers her best efforts to break free from the cycle of poverty into which she was born. Only Tirado can say if she has given up on ever escaping poverty, but from the level of anger she so readily embraces, that just might be a safe bet.That Linda Tirado knows of which she speaks is beyond dispute. She has the lifetime credentials so many of this country’s poor earn the hard way: through personal experience. She is an obviously intelligent and articulate woman and she hopes that more fortunate Americans are willing to listen to her for the two or three hours it takes to read her book. I listened and I agree with much, maybe even most, of what she has to say about being stuck in low-paying jobs for the long term. Tirado’s points about how extremely difficult it is to escape the barely-making-ends-meet life are valid ones. As she says, it is near impossible to find a better paying job if you cannot afford a car to get you to that job; it is hard to go to school if you have to work two jobs just to pay the rent and put food on the table; it is near impossible to save for the future at the rate of five or ten dollars a paycheck if the first medical emergency that comes along is only going to wipe out your savings again. Tirado, though, seems to have given in to the temptation to do more than just inform with this book. She wants to get even – at least a little. Even as she shoots down all the stereotypes that “rich people” hold about “poor people,” she gleefully embraces all the ones about rich people. She preaches tolerance and respect for the poorer segment of American society while ridiculing the rest of that same society. She demands respect but does not display any in reverse. She strays into politics but shows that she knows little more than liberal talking points, and she uses those points to distort the position of others with whom she disagrees. And, frankly, her “Open Letter to Rich People,” with which she ends the book, might be “cute” but its contemptuous tone makes it pretty much counterproductive. The author paints everyone not living a life of poverty with the same brush, and we, of course, are not all the same. Many of us come from backgrounds very similar to hers (my own parents were sharecroppers who moved to a neighboring state in order to start a whole new life with little more than what they could carry with them in their old car – I grew up poor and did not escape that life until a good while after I married). And that is a real shame because this book has a worthy message. But a little less anger would have gone a long way in getting that message across.
    • 5/5
      A raw, brutally honest account of what it's like to be one of the working poor in America. She knows it so well because she's lived it. From the introduction: "Poverty is when a quarter is a fucking miracle. Poor is when a dollar is a miracle. Broke is when five bucks is a miracle. Working class is being broke, but doing so in a place that might not be run-down. Middle class is being able to own some toys and to live in a nice place—and by 'nice,' I don’t mean fancy; I mean that you can afford your own furniture and not lease it and that while you still worry about bills, you aren’t constantly worried about homelessness. And rich is anything above that."
    • 4/5
      This was a very engaging and entertaining book. The content is terrifying and depressing and enraging. The humor really helps. I had a hard time putting it down and an easy time reading it. If I hadn’t been concurrently reading a novel, I’d have finished it in one or two days. It’s thought provoking and I hope it might be a contributing catalyst for some social and political, and personal, change.I’m grateful that even though she is writing about poverty in general, she is clear that she is speaking for her situation and acknowledges than 1/3 the United States population is not a homogeneous group, that there are significant differences in circumstances among the poor. I wish that 40% through the book I hadn’t looked up the author, and seen the buzz about her, and her blog, and this book. I was able to just keep reading. What the author says seems authentic to me, and it’s clear that her circumstances changed several times, most notably when at one point she got family help to upgrade her living circumstances and again when she got the deal for this book. She’s writing about her experiences over time and I have no reason to question her.I’ve always thought I didn’t have the courage to live in dire poverty, and this book validated that for me. Even before her book deal, the author had a good education and was smart and wrote well, and she had a husband and children and family of origin and friends who sometimes gave financial help.I wish somebody older and less healthy and without any family, and on an even much lower income would write a book and relate their experiences, perhaps a group of people with varying experiences. It might be even more depressing but even more helpful.I do hope that this book is widely read and that as a result people living in poverty will be better treated by individuals, workplaces, organizations, and the government. I started my buddy read novel when I was less than ½ way through this but I was also able to read and finish this book, reading concurrently, and get it back to the library well ahead of its due date. If I’d been reading just this book I’m sure I’d have read it in one or two days at the most.